Brand new PC, overheating problem

Computer specs:
Case: CM Storm enforcer with a 200m intake fan at the front bottom of the case and a 100mm outtake fan at the top-back of the case.
CPU Cooler: Xigmatek Prime SD1484 with two 120mm fans (I think they're 120mm) one for intake another for outtake.
CPU: Intel Core i7 3820
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680

So I got this computer literally one week ago and the threshold that it's deeming to be too hot is 80 degrees Celsius, I've heard from other people "over 70 is a bit bad", "it can handle 90", "it can handle up to 110", so I'm really not too sure if 80 is an okay temperature for my CPU to be running at. It gets this hot when I run diablo 3 at max settings (73-77) but when I play tribes ascend at max it can get to 90 degrees. Every game play the temp is always over 70, I'll be getting a 200mm outtake fan for the top of the case anyday now which I'm hoping will help but I'd really like some helpful advice please.
The computer is located on top of my desk which is on the opposite side of the room to my window.

(I can include other specs, I just included what I thought to be the necessary ones.)

How are you monitoring the temperature? Also, just checking that its the CPU and not GPU temp you're getting.

Did you install everything personally, or was it done professionally?

A big cooler like that should cool your CPU down way below what you're getting. Might want to re-seat the CPU cooler. Pay attention to the thermal paste section Marnomancer has in Part II of his guide.

If this still fails, the thermal sensor could be wrong. Touching to see if its actually HOT is the simple way to check for that. I don't recommend it, but that's what I do. I'm a little bit of a masochist that way...

A lot of people seem to be having similar issues with the newer chips, and in most cases it's the cooler itself that is causing issues...

Not to bash Xigmatek products, but the few I have worked with weren't that great... dare I say cheap? That specific unit doesn't appear to have any copper pipes or fins, which could greatly negate its ability to draw heat from that processor. I've gone through dozens of CPU coolers in my day and 90% of the time those with copper perform better. It's just a more efficient material.

If I were you I would try a different cooler and as an extra barrier against failure I would try another thermal compound like Tuniq TX-2. I highly recommend that. It's worth it to spend a little more money on a cooler that is up to the task.

It does have copper pipes and a **** ton of fins, I think it might not be mounted properly (still haven't sorted it, and resulted in not checking temps as others say it's ok to be that hot) when it arrived one of the cooler fans was dislodged from transit so it might have shifted a bit.. or that fan may be damaged..

oh, yeah my bad, it was cheap but the only alternatives on the website offered were the h60 (I think) water cooler which was louder and apparently hotter.. and had a mountain of noise related complaints on the web, my whole set-up was expensive so I didn't want to fork out over £60 on a better cooler as I thought this one would suffice. Apart from hot temps everything seems to be okay.

I see where you are coming from, and I understand you not wanting to spend any more money...

Therefore, your best option in this case would be to re-seat the cooler yourself (it is not difficult) and use a different thermal compound to ensure better heat dissipation. I'm not sure what is available to you but there are several highly regarded products on the market to choose from. My current favorite is TX-2 which I've used on both CPU and GPU countless times, but stay away from the TX-3... garbage!

In the past I've received products with bad thermal application from the retailer, so it's not too unbelievable that the system assembler did not properly seat the cooler. Another of the many reasons I prefer to assemble and configure my own machines.

Oh and I use speedfan to detect temps,.. I'll resit it and apply if I have further temp problems with future games but I think my temp sensor is fu**ed it's currently saying the cpu is at 124c with 1% cpu usage but the system temp is saying 32c

I've had -40C readings on my CPU before, so its not surprising the temp readings may be wrong. If you believe that you've seated the cooler properly (after reading on the thermalpaste, and reviewing installation instructions) you might just get away with not re-installing the cooler. I know it can be a pain to reinstall it, and if the CPU is not giving any problems (other than temp readings) I'd rather just leave it alone, until we know the readings are right.

How to obtain an accurate reading? Maybe try CoreTemp. I find that they tend to be pretty well respected. Use a stress test as well, such as Prime95 to bring temperatures as high as possible (do leave it on for at least 5 mins).

It still shows every core temp though 40-45 under no load what so ever, and I've already done the Prime95 test, wasn't pretty at all I went to 100c in a matter of 4 seconds.. which I then aborted the test immediately just to be safe.

I've heard of the Ivy chips running hot but not like that. 45 to 100c in that amount of time is pretty serious. Even if the cooler wasn't seated properly it's hard to believe that the temps would soar that high as soon as the processor is under load...

I'm not sure what to tell you I mean if it were my machine I'd be pulling that cooler off and trying something else. Are you certain that the cooler's fan(s) are attached to the correct locations on the motherboard? This usually doesn't matter as long as at least one fan is attached to the "CPU" header. The BIOS is supposed to adjust the fan speed according to the temperature, so you may want to double check the settings there as well.

There is the chance of the readings being off, seeing as no software can be 100% accurate, but it seems you need to take action. Pull the side off the machine and physically touch the cooler's fins if you can. Don't touch near the base as you could burn yourself! If the fins are hot to the touch to the point where you have to quickly pull away fat chance the fans are even making a dent. If that's the case you need to fix it...

^If he wasn't using an Ivy chip I'd probably agree, but then again I feel like it should still be able to do the job--especially with two 140mm fans. I haven't used too many air coolers lately so I can't make any recommendations other than trying to re-seat the unit and hope for the best. The two Ivy bridge processors I've dealt with I used liquid and honestly I felt the temps were still too high. The new CPU's, especially the i7's, just seem to run hot. A little disappointing considering the die shrink...

Wow.... opened up my case this morning, after obtaining my rubbing alcohol and arctic silver yesterday (2 weeks wait for TX-2) and I found the problem.. it was seated correctly but it seems like whoever seated my cpu cooler forgot to remove the plastic sheet on the very bottom of the cpu cooler... removed and reapplied thermal compound, my max temp lingers around 54 now rather than high 80's 90's. Thanks for the help everyone.

What aftermarket did you get after all? I recommend just going into the bios and setting the defaults until we get this sorted out. Also is the 680 a reference design that exhausts out of the case, or a custom that exhausts into the case? also I would just water cool if you are worried about temps. you can get a corsair h60 for that same price.

Oh and I use speedfan to detect temps,.. I'll resit it and apply if I have further temp problems with future games but I think my temp sensor is fu**ed it's currently saying the cpu is at 124c with 1% cpu usage but the system temp is saying 32c

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That may be your whole problem - Speedfan is very erratic; I haven't had a board yet that worked with it properly. Try Real Temp for accuracy, or my favorite, HWiNFO64, which reads an amazing amount of information and supports the latest hardware. In HWiNFO64 the digital sensors embedded in the CPU typically read 20c hotter than the CPU reading (of the motherboard sensor under the CPU), but I assume the digital sensors are more accurate regarding the actual core temps (so base your cooling solution on the hotter digital sensor).

That's pretty funny, 'cause when I started reading this post and saw how high the temps were, the first thing I thought was that it sounds like the plastic protector for the base wasn't removed. But then I thought, nobody has ever actually done that, have they? I mean, it says in large print REMOVE THIS PLASTIC PROTECTOR BEFORE INSTALLING and also mentions it in the instructions a couple of times. Now I'd be wondering what else was installed incorrectly...